


a kiss on the hand may be quite continental

by Copperstown



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Coming Out, Fluff, Friendship, Humor, Kissing, Multi, Post-Season/Series 03, Pre-Season/Series 04, a little at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-06
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2020-04-11 19:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19116475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copperstown/pseuds/Copperstown
Summary: Isak had forgotten that coming out isn’t a one-time thing you do. It’s something that needs to be repeated, over and over again, and maybe that’s why he’d forgotten it. Maybe he’d decided to just pretend to not realize that he’ll be coming out his entire life, basically, because so far, he only has a success rate of 1.5 out of 3 coming out experiences.“We have to start making out at school,” Isak announces.Even looks up from his Spanish book with raised eyebrows. “Okay?”*In which girls keep hitting on Isak and he finds it frustrating.





	a kiss on the hand may be quite continental

**Author's Note:**

> Basically a story in which Isak keeps having to come out, because word hasn't spread to the whole school that he's gay. It's a little outside what happens on the show, but just imagine that after the rumors about him being gay spread, no one really confirmed it.

Isak had forgotten that coming out isn’t a one-time thing you do. It’s something that needs to be repeated, over and over again, and maybe that’s why he’d forgotten it. Maybe he’d decided to just pretend to not realize that he’ll be coming out his entire life, basically, because so far, he only has a success rate of 1.5 out of 3 coming out experiences.

Coming out to Jonas had been a success on every level. Coming out to Magnus and Mahdi had been kind of round-about and a little awkward, and his attempts at making them realize what he was talking about had led to some confusion, but overall it had gone pretty well.

Coming out to Eskild had just been a disaster. Isak prefers not to think about it.

But whether or not forgetting was something he did on purpose or not, he’s faced with reality just a few weeks after school starts back up after Christmas.

They’re at a party at Chris’ place, because Vilde would obviously go to her best friend’s party, and where Vilde goes, Magnus follows and drags all his friends with him. They’re also at the party because while Isak and Magnus are now in committed relationships, Mahdi and Jonas are still trying to score ladies, and to do that, they go to parties.

Isak doesn’t mind parties anymore, not like he used to. He used to dread parties because they meant having to flirt with girls and touch girls and make out with girls, all of which he is so profoundly uninterested in, his friends probably don’t even realize how uninterested he is. But now that he’s out and has a boyfriend, he doesn’t have to do any of that, so he can just enjoy going to a party with his best friends and his boyfriend.

Except without the boyfriend tonight, because Even is in Lillehammer visiting family. It makes the party a little less awesome than it could have been, but Isak is still having a lot more fun than he used to at parties, and they’re not even getting high.

The four of them are sitting in the kitchen (it’s where most of the booze is), laughing as Magnus regales them with a story of how Vilde spent an hour teaching him how to both hook and unhook a bra, when a girl walks in. And she’s nothing special. She’s far from the first person, or even the first girl, to walk in while they’ve been sitting there, chatting. And she doesn’t do anything special either, she just goes to fill up her white wine glass with wine from a cardboard box on the counter.

At least, that’s all she does at first.

Isak notices her staring at him while she waits for her glass to fill up (Isak doesn’t know a lot about wine, but from everything he’s seen, he’s pretty sure the glass she’s getting herself would be considered a too big to be appropriate). He notices her lingering by the counter, eyeing the four of them up.

Eyeing _him_ up especially.

He’s not looking back or anything. He literally has no reason to. But he can feel her eyes on him, and she’s just a little to the right of his line of sight, so he can just see her standing there, looking.

He ignores her in favor of Magnus.

“So then she hands me one of her bras and she’s like, ‘Try putting it on, maybe then it’ll be easier for you to work with on a girl’, and at first, I wasn’t really sure if I was gonna put it on or not,” Magnus says. “So I said to her, ‘The only girl’s bra I wanna take off is yours’, and she got all cute and stuff. And then I just felt like I couldn’t _not_ do what she asked, so I took the bra, and I started trying to put it on –”

“You did _what_?” Mahdi cackles loudly, and he’s not the only one. Isak and Jonas also burst out laughing. The mental image of Magnus in a bra is just too good. Isak kind of wishes he’d been there, so he could immortalize the moment.

Maybe he can get Magnus to do it again and let him take a picture.

Maybe Even can make him do it, if Magnus won’t listen to Isak.

But before Magnus can tell them the rest of this truly glorious story, the girl walks up and interrupts their laughing.

“Hey,” she says. It seems like it might be directed at the whole table, but her eyes quickly fixate on Isak.

“Hey,” Mahdi says, leaning back a little to take in her full appearance. He is, after all, on the prowl.

“You guys sound like you’re having fun,” the girl says.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty good night, so far,” Jonas says, also taking in the girl’s appearance. He is, after all, also on the prowl tonight.

“Would, um…” the girl hesitates a little, her eyes flickering down. But then she gets another glance at Jonas, and that seems to steel her resolves. “Do you guys have any good, you know, _stuff_ , to share?”

“Stuff? What do you mean?” Magnus asks, because he’s never been the brightest of them.

Isak thinks he knows what she means.

“You know, weed,” the girl says, rather plainly for how shy she seemed about the subject earlier.

The boys all share looks between them.

“Uh, no, sorry,” Jonas says. He seems a little more closed off now, like he’s no longer appraising this girl’s good looks (and she does have good looks. Isak is gay, not blind, and was also closeted for so long that he learned what straight boys usually consider good looks).

The girl frowns a little, confused. “I thought you guys all smoked. That’s what I heard, anyway.”

“Yeah, we did.” Jonas smiles at her. “We just don’t anymore.”

“Oh,” the girl says.

“A friend of ours can’t really handle it, so we stopped smoking in sympathy,” Magnus explains.

“Aw, that’s nice,” the girl coos. Her eyes are back on Isak. It’s making him a little uncomfortable. “I guess it’s true that it’s not really good for anyone, in general. I should probably stop too.”

“Oh no, don’t let us stop you,” Mahdi says with a grin. “We just don’t have any.”

“What were you laughing so hard about earlier?” the girl asks, pulling up a chair and sitting down. Isak blinks at her. They did not invite her to stay, and if they can’t provide weed for her, why is she staying?

Maybe Jonas or Mahdi will actually manage to get lucky tonight, then.

“Magnus here was just telling us a story about his girlfriend,” Mahdi says, because Mahdi is a good bro who will not reveal intimate details about Magnus or Vilde, like Magnus putting on Vilde’s bra, without their permission. Isak can’t say for certain he would’ve shown the same courtesy, so it’s probably for the best that Mahdi was the first one to answer.

It’s pretty clear to Isak that Mahdi is settling into his flirting mode. He’s getting ready to try to score this chick as smoothly as possible.

But the girl isn’t that interested in him, unfortunately.

Even more unfortunately, she seems far too interested in Isak.

When she introduces herself as Maria, she stares intently at Isak. When she says she’s a first year, she bites her lip while staring at Isak. When she tells them how she hasn’t found anyone fun to dance with all night, she flutters her eyelashes at Isak.

Basically, she keeps fucking _flirting_ with Isak.

And he’s not even doing anything to encourage it. In fact, he tries to look away as much as possible.

“Is it just me or is it really hot in here?” Maria asks, fanning herself and lifting up her shirt a little.

Isak can see Jonas and Mahdi’s eyes zero in on the strip of flesh that move reveals. He’d think they were pathetic if not for the fact that he usually stares when Even does that, and they know it.

“Isak, do you wanna go get some fresh air with me?” Maria asks. She’s staring intently at him.

And this is the moment when Isak realizes that Maria doesn’t know. This is the moment he remembers that yeah, the whole school had heard the rumors about him and Even last November, but not everyone heard the rumors confirmed. There are probably still people at school who think he’s straight, because he’d been hooking up with so many chicks that a lot of people probably found the idea of him being gay absurd.

All that lying and hiding is really coming back to bite him in the ass in various annoying ways.

“Uh,” Isak hesitates, just a little. Maybe he can make her go away, or shift focus to Jonas or Mahdi, without having to be too blunt about it. “Nah, I’m good. Don’t think I can be bothered to move.”

Maria laughs a little, clearly nervous about the fact that her move didn’t work.

“Yeah, I get that. Moving can be such a hassle,” she says.

Isak looks to his friends for help. He can tell by the way they’re all grins and sparkling eyes that they’ve realized what’s going on too, but they very clearly have no intentions of helping him.

Traitors.

Even, however, is not a traitor. He can’t be, because he chooses this exact moment to call Isak and unknowingly rescue him. The perfect way both for Isak to get away from Maria, and for Isak to tell her how much he’s not interested in her, without having to say those words.

“It’s my boyfriend,” he says, gesturing to his phone as he stands up.

Maria’s face is too shocked to really fall with disappointment, but the disappointment is still there, and it’s kind of funny to watch the two emotions battle it out for which one should be most visible.

Isak picks up the call, puts his phone to his ear, and starts heading away from the noise of the party.

“Hey,” he says softly.

“Hey, you,” Even replies, and Isak can hear the grin in his voice,

He can also hear Maria’s shocked voice saying, “He’s _gay_?” behind him, and that makes him smile. Now that he doesn’t mind people knowing, her reaction is kind of funny.

Hopefully she’ll spread the word, and Isak won’t have to have any more encounters like this.

 

*

 

Maria does not spread the word.

At least, not very efficiently.

It’s two weeks later, it’s another party, and Isak has lost Even to Noora because he’s the only guy willing to dance with her. Isak had watched and laughed for a good ten minutes before going outside to get some fresh air and let his ears and his brain have a break from the heavy bass of the music.

It’s nice outside. It’s nice inside too, but the air is getting heavy the way it tends to do at parties. A lot of people dancing and sweating makes everything a little musty and clingy, and the smell of alcohol starts hanging thickly in the air.

But outside it’s nice. It’s not too cold, just fresh in the way that Isak’s head starts clearing up a little, and the only smell is the faint smell of smoke from all the smokers that have come out here during the evening. There’s still a group out there, a little further down in the garden. They’re laughing loudly enough that Isak can hear it, but he can’t hear what they’re laughing about, and he doesn’t care enough to try, either. He’s just getting a little fresh air before he heads back inside to find his friends, or maybe to reclaim his boyfriend. He hasn’t decided yet.

A girl comes up to him with a wide smile.

“Hi,” she says, and just with that word, and the way she walks, Isak can tell she’s drunk. “I’m Pia.”

“Isak,” is all Isak says. He smiles back at her though, to be polite.

“Yeah, I’ve seen you around,” Pia says. She takes another step forward, right into Isak’s personal sphere. He tries to lean back, away from her, but she just follows him and gets even closer.

Uncomfortably close.

“Uh, what are you doing?” he asks.

“Don’t guys like a girl who can take charge?” Pia asks.

And then she reaches up and puts a hand on Isak’s neck, and that’s just a big no to him, but he’s too frozen to really move. “Damn, you’re hot,” she says, closes her eyes, and leans in.

Isak stumbles backwards.

“Hey, what are you doing?” he asks again, laughing a little. From panic.

“I’m _trying_ to kiss you,” Pia says with a smile. “I thought you’d be the kind that would want to skip all the talking that goes before.”

“I’m already with someone,” Isak blurts out, because saying it directly seems like best option.

Pia seems like a very direct girl, anyway. She probably appreciates that.

“Oh,” she says and takes a step back. “Who? I haven’t seen you with girls a lot tonight.”

She’s been watching him. Isak doesn’t know how to feel about that, honestly, especially because she doesn’t seem very observant. If she’s been watching him enough to know that he hasn’t hung out a lot with one specific girl, then she should’ve noticed the way he and Even have been all over each other.

Apparently not, though. He’ll have to spell it out for her.

“Even,” he replies. Pia frowns, like she’s trying to put a face to the name. “Third year. Tall, James Dean vibes.”

Not that he’d ever tell Even to his face that he has James Dean vibes. He’d probably never hear the end of it. But it’s one of the best ways to describe him to over people, so it’s what he goes with.

Predictably, recognition flashes on Pia’s face, and Isak is thankful for it.

“ _Ohhhhh_ ,” she says. “Sorry.”

And with that, she smiles and walks away, like nothing had happened. And all Isak can do is stare after her.

What an odd girl.

As far as coming out goes, that was pretty easy, though. It took him maybe three sentences, and she hardly reacted. That’s practically more of a success than his coming out to Mahdi and Magnus, and he doesn’t even know Pia.

He collapses against the wall of the house. For some reason, that whole encounter took a lot of his energy. Hopefully one day, strange encounters won’t be so draining.

Or maybe it was the coming out that was draining. Hopefully not. Hopefully he’s moved past that.

He heads back in a minute later, partly because he’s a little afraid of more girls wandering up and randomly trying to kiss him, partly because he wants to find Even and reclaim him from Noora. Thankfully, he’s not very hard to find, being as tall as he is. It’s funny watching him dance with Noora, when she’s so much smaller than him.

“Hey,” Isak drawls when he walks up to them. They both turn beaming smiles on him.

“Hi!” Noora says.

“Where have you been?” Even asks, pulling Isak closer. Noora takes a step back to allow space for that, but otherwise doesn’t move.

“I was just outside to get some air,” Isak explains. “Some girl tried to kiss me.”

It’s blunt, but it’s not like Isak was ever going to not tell Even immediately.

Even’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really?” he asks. His face doesn’t dim at all, and his grin doesn’t go away. “Should I be jealous or something?”

“No,” Isak says with a huff of laughter. “She was just drunk, and apparently she didn’t know I’m gay and taken.”

“Did you tell her that?” Even asks, eyes gleaming.

“Of course.” What else would he have done or said? “She just said sorry and walked away.”

Even’s grin widens impossibly. “I wish I’d been there to see it.”

Isak laughs a little. So does Noora, who’s still standing next to them for some reason.

“Well, if you hadn’t been busy dancing with Noora, you could have been there,” he reminds Even.

Both Noora and Even laugh at that.

“Well, you can have him back now,” Noora says with a wave of her hand. “I need to go find Eva and make sure she’s not doing something dumb, like making out with a random stranger.”

Isak looks around to see if he can spot her. He can’t. Although he’s not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. It could just mean that she’s in the kitchen, or even in a bedroom somewhere, making out with a random stranger. She really is too amorous (and too bi-curious, honestly, and Isak is pretty proud that he knows what that means now) when she’s drunk. Her attempt to make out with him that one time at the Penetrators party is still vividly clear in his mind. Whichever one of the girls is on Eva duty on any given night has her work cut out for her.

Unfortunately for Noora, she seems to be on Eva duty most nights. Why she even still agrees to go to parties is something Isak can’t always quite fathom. How does she enjoy herself, if she always has to look out for Eva?

“Thanks for the dance,” Even tells Noora.

“Thanks, you too!” she beams at him, gives them a little wave, and then walks away to find Eva.

Even’s hands find their way into Isak’s back pockets – such a common occurrence by now that Isak hardly even reacts to it (on the outside at least. The inside is a whole different question) – while Isak winds his arms around Even’s waist.

“You wanna dance?” Even asks. “And tell me more about this girl coming onto you, so I can get madly jealous and possessive?”

“There’s nothing more to tell,” Isak laughs. “And I wouldn’t want you to be jealous and possessive anyway.”

“Good, cause I don’t think I’d be very good at it,” Even says, and Isak laughs again.

“How about we just dance?” he suggests.

“Sounds good to me,” Even grins and starts moving them somewhat to the beat of the music.

Of course, it doesn’t take them more than a few minutes to start making out instead of dancing, but anyone who expected different of them is an idiot.

 

*

 

Somehow, even with two girls now having come onto him and being rebuffed, the fact that Isak’s gay _still_ isn’t common knowledge at school.

Isak is honestly _baffled_ at how it’s escaped to many people. He’s not hiding anymore.

Well, okay. He doesn’t know how many people know and how many people don’t know. It’s not like he polled the entire student body or anything. But there’s enough people that don’t know that girls like Maria and Pia had no idea, and if they were the only two, then their friends probably would’ve let them know before they approached him, and thus he can conclude that there must be a decent chunk of people who don’t know that he’s both gay and taken.

And Isak is definitely gay. He’s not bisexual or pansexual, like Mahdi had suggested to explain his frequent “hook-ups” with girls. He’s just straight up (bad choice of words, maybe) homosexual. Men all the way.

Maybe that’s why not everyone knows about it, though. He _did_ pretend to hook up with girls pretty much every weekend. He had a reputation for being great with the ladies. Maybe that reputation weighs more in people’s minds than the rumor about him being gay. Maybe people heard the rumor, and after gossiping about it, dismissed it because how could he be gay when he’s always charming the pants off girls?

By lying, that’s how.

Magnus had taken great enjoyment in laughing incredulously when Isak had told the boys that all those times he got blown in the bathroom were lies. It never happened.

“Does that mean I actually had more experience than you?” Magnus had asked, glee and disbelief written all over his features.

“Marginally,” Isak had grumbled. “And I still had sex before you.”

Magnus had not cared about those details and had instead proceeded to tease Isak mercilessly for how much he’d teased Magnus when really Isak was the more pathetic one.

Isak had allowed it. Partly because it made Magnus so happy, partly because, well, it was true.

But in any case, maybe that’s the problem. People wouldn’t believe Isak was gay because of how many girls he’d supposedly pulled.

Maybe everyone thinks he must be at least bisexual, and that’s why those girls came onto him. Though that still completely disregards the fact that he’s in a steady, committed relationship.

Either way, Isak does not appreciate it. Especially not when it happens a third time.

He’s about to leave school for the day and go home to Even (Even’s last class was cancelled, so he got to go back to the kollektiv a whole two hours before Isak, the lucky bastard), when, halfway across the school yard, a voice calls his name.

He turns around and sees a petite, blonde girl running up to him.

“Hi,” she says when she reaches him.

“Hi?” Isak says, confused. He has no idea who this girl is.

“My name’s Karoline, I’m in 2.B,” she says, twirling her hair with her finger and fluttering her eyelashes. Isak nods a little, still confused. “Um, I was just – I’m having a pre-party tomorrow at my place, and I was just wondering – well, me and my friends were just wondering, if you’d wanna come?”

She glances over her shoulder quickly to a group of girls who look at her very encouragingly.

This second or so of her focus being elsewhere gives Isak the chance to pick his jaw up off the ground without her noticing that he dropped it at all. He doesn’t manage to replace the shocked look on his face, though.

Why does this keep happening to him?

“Uh, sorry. I already have plans for a pre-party tomorrow. I’m hosting one for my friends,” he says slowly. Hopefully this will make her go away.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t.

Although maybe Isak should’ve seen that coming. He’d been extremely reluctant about at least half of Emma’s advances, and it hadn’t stopped her. She hadn’t stopped until he stopped reeling her back in, even when she was mad at him.

This girl is similarly persistent. Her face falls a little, but she recovers quickly, shrugs, and twirls her hair some more. She even leans her weight on one leg to cock out her hip.

“Oh, okay. What about tomorrow night then?” she asks. Isak stares at her in shock. “Or next week, maybe? We could find a pre-party to go to together if neither of us is hosting.”

And okay, this has to stop. Isak has to stop her, before this continues.

“Uh, listen, Karoline,” he says, steeling himself. “I’m gay. And I have a boyfriend.”

Better not to beat around the bush too much.

Karoline’s jaw drops in a way similar to how Isak’s had dropped just a minute ago. Her entire face falls, then morphs into an expression of complete disbelief.

“I’ve never seen you with a boyfriend,” she says.

“Well, I have one,” Isak says. It’s not too surprising that she hasn’t noticed, maybe. He’s not hiding anymore, but he hasn’t yet figured out if he’s comfortable with public displays of affection, and Even hasn’t tried to kiss him in public since The Hotel Friday. When Even hangs out with them, he probably just looks like another guy in their little squad.

Which he also definitely is. There’s no doubt that Jonas, Mahdi and Magnus love Even as a friend as much as they do each other. His place in their squad has very little to do with him being Isak’s boyfriend, and honestly, just thinking about that can make Isak kind of emotional, so he tries not to.

Karoline looks at him skeptically. “Look, if you’re just saying this because you’re not interested, then you don’t have to. I can take no for an answer, if you give it to me straight up,” she says.

Isak stares at her, jaw dropped again.

_If he’s just saying this –_

That’s rude. Isak’s pretty sure that’s rude. Eskild would probably say that’s kind of homophobic.

“I’m not _just saying that_ ,” he says, offended. Karoline’s eyes widen a little. “I’m gay and I have a boyfriend. That’s not a lie. He’s a third year.”

“Oh,” Karoline says. She sounds a little meek now, and she curls in on herself just a little. “Sorry.”

Isak takes a deep breath. Patience is best. “It’s okay.”

“I’m sorry, I just… most people say you’re a womanizer, so I just thought maybe you were saying that to get girls to back off if you’re not interested,” Karoline says. “No one could ever really figure out if Emma was telling the truth or if she was just upset about being rejected.”

“It’s true,” Isak says. “And you can tell as many people as you want that it’s true. I don’t care.”

In fact, he thinks he might prefer it if Karoline spreads the word. Whatever it takes to make instances like these never happen again.

Which.

That thought gives him an idea. One he’s surprised that he hasn’t had before.

He and Karoline exchange awkward goodbyes, and then Isak heads home, where he knows Even is waiting for him, so he can tell him his grand plan for avoiding girls hitting on him again.

No one else it home when he gets to the kollektiv, so he marches straight to his room

“We have to start making out at school,” Isak announces when he steps inside.

Even looks up from his Spanish book with raised eyebrows. “Okay?”

Isak sighs, drops his bag on the floor and walks over to collapse on his bed next to his boyfriend.

“Tough day?” Even asks, rubbing his hand along Isak’s spine.

“My day ways fine, at first,” Isak says. He turns his head to the side so his voice isn’t muffled by his duvet. “But then right as I was heading home, this girl came up to me and asked me if I wanted to come to her pre-party tomorrow night. And she was like, full on flirting with me.”

“We already agreed to pre-party with everyone here tomorrow,” Even says, as if that’s the important thing to focus on.

“I know, and I told her that, but then she just asked me if I’d want to pre-party with her on Saturday, or next week.” Isak sighs. “And then I figured, the best way to get her off my back is to just tell her I have a boyfriend, so I did, and she looked so shocked and disappointed. Like she’d been lied to or something.”

“Poor girl,” Even says. He’s smiling, but he still sounds sympathetic, somehow.

“That’s why we have to start making out at school,” Isak says, turning onto his back so he can look at Even properly. “That way everyone will know I’m gay and taken, and they’ll stop coming on to me.”

“Well, you won’t hear me complaining about it,” Even grins. “I’ll look forward to it.”

Isak rolls his eyes at that. His boyfriend is ridiculous, and he loves it.

It’s quiet for a moment, where they just sort of look at each other. Then Even’s face morphs into something more serious and thoughtful.

“Isak,” he says, just a little carefully. “You know I don’t mind public displays of affection. But the reason we haven’t done a lot of it is because you’ve seemed uncomfortable with it. And that’s totally okay, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if you’re not comfortable cuddling or kissing in public, then you don’t have to push yourself.”

And that is possibly one of the sweetest things anyone has ever said to Isak, and that really says a lot. Isak smiles up at him, fond and so in love he’s not sure what to do with it.

“I know,” he says softly, reaching up to stroke Even’s cheek. “Thank you. I know I was uncomfortable with it before, but I’m not now. I’m way more uncomfortable with all these girls hitting on me. So I might as well show everyone why that is.”

Even nods and places a soft kiss on the palm of Isak’s hand. Isak thinks he might be able to feel himself physically melt.

“So we agree?” he says to keep himself together and stop the melting. “We start kissing at school?”

“I can’t wait.” Even grins. “We should practice.”

And with that, he leans down to kiss Isak, and Isak grins back. It makes the kiss a little hard at first, but with how much Even smiles, and how much he makes Isak smile, they’re basically pros at working through smiles to kiss. It makes Isak melt even more, and he can’t even be bothered to care about it, as long as Even keeps kissing him.

 

*

 

They walk to school together the next morning, and they hold hands all the way, entwined fingers and everything. They greet the boys in the courtyard as always and none of them stare or even blink at Isak and Even holding hands in public.

There are a few others in the courtyard that do. Nothing bad, just a little double take or a lingering stare. Just surprise. Nothing that bothers Isak, so he ignores it.

They separate to go to their own classes, and Even gives him a quick peck before he goes, so fast that Isak hardly has time to push his surprise aside and kiss back. It still doesn’t really get people looking, but it does make Magnus turn to him and say, “I thought you didn’t like kissing in public.”

“Well.” Isak shrugs. “I was tired of girls hitting on me all the time. I figured me and Even kissing at school would be a good way to make them back off.”

“Probably, yeah,” Mahdi says.

“But I thought you didn’t _like_ doing that?” Magnus says again. “I thought it made you uncomfortable.”

Isak shrugs again. “Not really. It did at first, but not anymore.”

Which turns out to be a good thing when they get to lunch later, because Even takes Isak’s request to make out at school literal. Even gets to the cafeteria first, and Isak shows up before the other three, and as soon as they’ve exchanged greetings and Isak’s sat down, Even pulls Isak’s chair closer and plants his mouth on Isak’s.

Isak is not complaining.

Making out is fun, which is something Isak only realized after he started making out with Even, and since he no longer cares about people seeing them, he will gladly make out with Even whenever Even wants to, wherever they are.

They don’t break apart until they hear Jonas’ loud groan.

“Is this what the two of you are gonna be like now?” he asks when he has their attention. Behind him, both Mahdi and Magnus look both surprised and amused.

Isak points a finger at him. “You have no right to complain. You used to make out with Eva everywhere.”

Jonas rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t say anything. He’s a smart boy, he knows defeat when he sees it.

“I think your plan to get the girls to back off is gonna work, though,” Mahdi says as he sits down. “I’m pretty sure half the cafeteria was staring at you.”

Isak looks around, but of course people have stopped staring now, if they were even staring in the first place. Only Karoline and her group of friends across the room seem to still be glancing at them every now and then. _Good_ , Isak thinks, _this means she’ll get the message_.

“Well, hopefully they’ll spread the words to all the girls who aren’t here,” Isak says.

“Or we can just spread it ourselves,” Even grins, and it’s wicked and makes Isak weak at the knees.

He can’t say he’s ever been well-behaved, if he’s honest, but no one has ever made him want to just blindly follow them no matter what the way Even has.

He’ll eventually be a terrible influence, Isak knows. The pool was just the beginning.

“I’ll help spread the word, too,” Magnus says, mouth full of sandwich. “Me and Vilde will tell people about you two if we hear any rumors about girls wanting to ask you out.”

And that’s actually a very nice gesture. Especially because Vilde seems to always know all the gossip, so she must be able to spread some of it herself. Having her on side should really help with Isak’s venture.

“But does that mean that you go back to just staring into each other’s eyes obnoxiously when girls stop hitting on Isak?” Mahdi asks.

“No,” Isak says immediately. He feels like that should have been obvious. Obviously now that he’s fine with making out in public, he’s not going to _stop_. It just means that now he and Even can kiss all the time, no matter where they are. It would be stupid to stop doing that. Has Mahdi not seen Even or something?

“You can just try to stop me,” Even says, pulling Isak closer into his side.

Isak preens. Just a little. For no reason.

He’s really in too deep, and it’s magnificent.

He is, in fact, in so deep that he’ll let Even pull him in for more kisses even when their friends are still there and still talking, just because they’ve been talking amongst themselves for a minute or something.

“Okay, are you two actually going to eat any real lunch, or just each other’s faces?” Mahdi asks eventually.

Isak reluctantly pulls away from Even. If he could survive the whole day on Even’s face, he would.

But he can’t, so he picks up his sandwich and starts eating. Next to him, Even does the same, his eyes trained on Isak the whole time.

At least Isak isn’t the only one who’s in too deep.

And because the two of them are so absolutely head over heels for each other, it doesn’t seem to take very long for the entire school to get the message that Isak Valtersen is gay and firmly off the market. He can notice the difference just the week after.

No girls hit on him all week, not even at the party he goes to on Saturday.

However, more and more girls greet him in the hallways or ask to work with him for group work in class. None of them ever flirt with him, which can only mean one thing: being gay is as much a chick magnet as being a womanizer. Another one of those gay secrets that Eskild never mentioned (Isak wonders how many he has. Eskild is his gay guru after all, he must Know Things).

The boys think it’s entirely unfair that he’s so popular with girls and yet so uninterested.

Isak thinks that’s pretty hilarious. Or at least, their whining is always hilarious.

Isak will never understand why girls dig gays so much, but he’s not nearly as bothered when he doesn’t have to reject them every time they approach him.

Unless they interrupt him and Even making out, but that bothers him no matter who it is.

 

*

 

Isak’s life is blessedly free of girls hitting on him for many, many months. His tactic of just publicly showcasing his relationship worked formidably.

Until Even graduates, and the new school year starts without him at school.

Of course the third years and second years all know about Isak being gay, and from what Vilde can tell him, none of them hide it if they’re asked about him, and he can appreciate that, he really can.

But not all the first years ask about him. Which means not all the first years know.

Which means that after about a month, when the first years have gotten somewhat settled in and start getting invited to parties with older students, and start being brave enough to invite older students to their own parties, it starts up again.

First year girls start hitting on Isak.

After the third time it’s happened, Isak groans and drops his head on the lunch table.

“I can’t believe I have to deal with this shit again,” he says miserably.

Next to him, he can hear Jonas snicker, but Jonas is also a good enough friend to pat him on the back sympathetically.

“I guess you’ll just have to try harder to seem really gay,” Magnus says. Isak lifts his head to glare at him, and Magnus starts laughing. And so does Mahdi, the traitor.

“Just give it a little time. Eventually the word will spread,” Jonas says.

“Or tell Even to come pick you up after school every day and start making out with you,” Magnus suggests, and maybe Isak is too tired of dealing with flirty girls, but it actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

When he tells it to Even later, Even bursts out laughing.

“I mean, I’ll do it if you want,” he says, still grinning and chuckling.

Isak found himself the right boyfriend.

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! Feedback is always appreciated!


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